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Maritime safety incident statistics

Maritime Safety Victoria2016-17 Annual Report

This document is a summary provided for information purposes only. No warranty or representation is made that the data or information contained in this document is accurate, reliable, complete or current or that it is suitable for a particular purpose. This document should not be relied upon as a substitute for the relevant legislation, legal or professional advice.

Published by Transport Safety VictoriaLevel 15, 121 Exhibition StreetMelbourne, Victoria 3000Telephone: 1800 223 022© Copyright State Government of Victoria 2017.

This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.

Maritime safety incident report 2016-17 Annual Report of 31

Contents

Introduction...............................................................................................................................4About this report...................................................................................................................4

Key findings..........................................................................................................................4Reporting requirements in Victoria.......................................................................................4

Explanatory notes.....................................................................................................................5Changes to data collected....................................................................................................5

Marine incident definition......................................................................................................5Data definitions.....................................................................................................................5

Additional incident data definitions.......................................................................................8Maritime fatalities and serious injuries......................................................................................9

Fatalities...............................................................................................................................9Further information...........................................................................................................9

Serious injuries...................................................................................................................11Further information.........................................................................................................11

Hospitalisation data research.........................................................................................13Marine incidents - recreational...............................................................................................15

Recreational incidents by incident type..............................................................................15Recreational incidents by waterway...................................................................................17

Recreational disablements.....................................................................................................20Recreational disablements by vessel type.........................................................................21

Marine incidents - commercial................................................................................................22Commercial incidents by incident type...............................................................................23

Commercial incidents by vessel type.................................................................................23Commercial incidents by waterway....................................................................................24

Boating Behaviour Study Part 2.............................................................................................26Victorian Marine Licence snapshot.........................................................................................27

Recreational registrations snapshot.......................................................................................28


Introduction

About this reportThis report provides an overview of the marine incidents that occurred in Victoria during the period 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.

The report is an update to, and replacement for, the quarterly Marine Incident Statistics reports provided throughout the 2016-17 financial year. It contains additional information, analysis and trending. This year’s incidents are compared with those of the three previous years.

Key findings During the period 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017 six marine fatalities resulted from six

recreational vessel incidents.

Fatalities have decreased 37.5 per cent compared with the average of the three preceding years.

Of the fatalities, four involved kayaks and two involved open vessels less than 4.4 m. All the deceased were male. The kayakers ranged in age from 36 to 83 and the open

boat operators were both over the age of 70.

There were 23 incidents that resulted in serious injury this season, an increase of 9.5 per cent compared with the average of the three preceding years.

Of the 23 serious injury incidents, five incidents involved open vessels towing skiers, wake boarders or tubes and six involved personal watercraft.

The number of marine incidents involving recreational vessels has decreased 2.8 per cent compared with the average of the three preceding years.

There were 35 commercial marine incidents in 2016-17, a 32.26 per cent decrease when compared with the average of the three preceding years.

There was no fatal incident involving commercial vessels in 2016-17, this compares with none in 2015-16, one in 2014-15 and two in 2013-14.

The majority of marine incidents (both recreational and commercial) in 2016-17 occurred on Port Phillip Bay (49 per cent) or Western Port Bay (19 per cent).

Reporting requirements in VictoriaThe following reporting requirements applied to both recreational and commercial vessels during 2016-17.

Victoria’s marine operators are required to report certain types of marine incidents to the Victoria Water Police under the Marine Safety Act 2010 (Vic) (MSA).

Under section 173(1)(i) of the Transport Integration Act 2010 (Vic) one of the functions of the Director, Transport Safety, is to ‘collect information and data about, and commission and sponsor research into, transport safety matters’. Transport


Safety Victoria (TSV) uses the data it collects from marine operators to monitor trends and safety risks in the marine environment across Victoria, and identify regulatory interventions accordingly.

Although not a specific legislative requirement, recreational incidents involving a request to Victoria Water Police for search and rescue assistance are reported to TSV by Victoria Water Police through the Marine Safety System.

Reporting requirements apply to commercial vessels under the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Act 2012 (the National Law). Sections 88 and 89 in Schedule 1 of the National Law require that both the owner and master of domestic commercial vessel involved in a marine incident report the incident to Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) the national regulator.

Explanatory notes

Changes to data collectedThis report is an update to a similar report that is published quarterly. Data is adjusted to reflect new information that comes to light during the reporting period.

Marine incident definitionThe National Marine Safety Data Collection Reference Manual: Data Standards and Definitions for Marine Incidents 18 December 2007 (Reference Manual), defines a marine incident as an event causing or involving any of the following in connection with the operation of a vessel:

1. the death of, or injury to, any person on board a vessel, or caused by a vessel2. the loss of a person from a vessel3. the abandonment, loss or presumed loss of a vessel4. the collision of a vessel with another vessel or with an object5. the grounding, sinking, flooding or capsizing of a vessel6. a fire or explosion aboard a vessel7. loss of stability affecting the safety of a vessel8. structural failure of a vessel.

Data definitionsIncident data has been codified in accordance with the Reference Manual. For convenience, an extract of the incident type descriptors is included in this document. For further explanation of the concepts, data standards and definitions please read this report in conjunction with the Reference Manual. Table 1 provides a description of the different types of marine incidents that may be reported to TSV.

Table 1: Marine incident data definitionsType DescriptionCollision A marine incident involving the collision of an operating vessel may

include any of the following instances: a) Collision of vessels

Striking together of two or more vessels, at least one vessel must be in operation or operating; but does not include striking a permanently fixed man-made object.

b) Collision with a fixed objectA vessel striking a permanently fixed man-made object, for example: aid to navigation, overhead bridge, sea walls, or


Type Descriptiongroynes; and does not include striking another vessel.

c) Collision with a floating objectA vessel striking an object that is waterborne and is free to move with tide, current or wind and is visible from the surface of the water; does not include living animals but does include carcasses and does not include striking another vessel.

d) Collision with an animalVessel striking a living animal which may or may not be normally found in a marine environment.

e) Collision with overhead obstructionAny part of a vessel making contact with power lines, or other overhead obstructions suspended above a waterway.

f) Collision with submerged objectA vessel making contact with an object that is waterborne and may be free to move with tide or current and is not visible from the surface of the water e.g.: submerged container, submarine cable. This category does not include groundings.

g) Collision with wharf A vessel making contact with a wharf/jetty/pontoon/boat ramp and causing damage to the vessel and/or wharf etc.

Grounding A marine incident involving an operating vessel grounding may include any of the following instances:

a) Grounding (unintentional) When a vessel unintentionally comes into contact with the bottom of a waterway so that the vessel ceases to be completely waterborne. This includes a vessel, either under command or not under command, running aground, striking or pounding on rocks, reefs or shoals, but not making contact with a beach or grounding intentionally.

b) Grounding (intentional)A vessel, under command, is put aground intentionally by the operator. An intentional grounding of a vessel is not a reportable marine incident unless the vessel is damaged in some way that makes the incident reportable.

Capsizing Vessel overturns so that the keel becomes uppermost or the vessel may lie on its side.

Sinking A vessel becomes submerged and settles below the surface of the water.Swamping A vessel fills with water particularly over the side (that is, water is filling

from the upper part of the vessel) but retains sufficient buoyancy to remain waterborne. If the vessel does not retain sufficient buoyancy to remain waterborne, the incident type becomes a sinking.

Flooding A breach of the vessel’s watertight integrity (that is, water filling from the lowest part of the vessel) due to the ingress of water into the vessel. The vessel retains sufficient buoyancy to remain waterborne. If the vessel does not retain sufficient buoyancy to remain waterborne, the incident type becomes a sinking.

Loss or presumed loss of a vessel

A vessel has not returned as stated or intended prior to departure and may be considered to be missing at sea.

Structural failure Damage to a vessel due to the structural failure of the vessel’s hull, superstructure, engines, machinery or equipment due to such things as metal fatigue, corrosion, broken welds, wood rot, electrical faults, insufficient materials in the construction of the vessel and excessive


Type Descriptionstress or wear on any component. Examples include dismasting of sailing vessels due to the mast being broken. Does not include flooding or sinking due to a breach of the hull.

Loss of stability The inadvertent movement of cargo, equipment or other materials which affects the vessel’s ability to return to an upright position when laterally displaced but does not include loss of stability due to swamping or flooding.

Fire Accidental burning of a vessel’s fuels or their vapours or of any material onboard a vessel.

Explosion Accidental explosion of any material onboard a vessel including vessel fuel or its vapours.

Person overboard

A person falls from a vessel into the water/sea/waterway.

Onboard injury A marine incident involving an operating vessel where the incident occurs onboard the vessel may include any of the following instances:

a) Falls within vessel Person onboard a vessel falls within the confines of the vessel.

b) Crushing or pinching An incident where a person is crushed or pinched by any part of the vessel or vessel’s machinery because of the operation of the vessel.

c) Other onboard injury Any other incident onboard a vessel (for example, to a passenger, crew) due to the operation of the vessel; does not include a fall overboard, falls within vessel, or crushing or pinching.

Other personal injury

A marine incident involving an operating vessel may include any of the following instances:

a) Hit by vessel or propeller Person not onboard a vessel is hit by a vessel or vessel’s propeller, this does not include a fall overboard, skiing or diving incident.

b) Skiing incident An incident when a person is engaged in waterskiing. Waterskiing includes aquaplaning, knee boarding, wake surfing and any similar towed activity carried out in association with a vessel.

c) Parasailing incidentAn incident where a person is engaged in parasailing. Parasailing is an activity utilising a parachute towed by a vessel to enable a person to become airborne.

d) Diving incident An incident involving an operating vessel and a person engaged in a diving related activity. For the purposes of this document, a diving activity includes diving using surface-supplied breathing apparatus, SCUBA diving, breath-hold diving (also known as free diving or skin diving) and snorkelling.

e) Other incidents caused by an operating vessel Any other incident involving a person not onboard a vessel (for example, swimmer, surfboard rider) due to the operation of a vessel; does not include a fall overboard, falls within vessel, crushing or pinching, hit by a vessel or propeller, skiing or diving incident.


Additional incident data definitionsTSV collects data regarding three additional ‘near miss’ incident types that do not comply with the definition of a marine incident in the Reference Manual but are useful indicators of risk and decision making. The definition of a close quarters situation is the working definition used by TSV and is now included in both the MSA and National Law legislation. The definition of a disablement and person in trouble is a working definition only. Table 2 provides a description of these additional incident types. Table 3 provides the definition for a recreational and commercial vessel, both terms are used frequently throughout the report.

Table 2: Additional incident data definitionsType DescriptionClose quarters situation

a) at least two vessels pass within proximity of each other such that a reasonable person would in all the circumstances conclude there was a risk of collision by those vessels

b) one vessel passes within proximity of an object such that a reasonable person would in all the circumstances conclude there was a risk of collision by that vessel with that object.

Disablement A vessel becoming disabled and requiring assistance.Person in trouble

Person(s) who require assistance because they cannot continue in their vessel unassisted.

Table 3: Other definitionsVessel type DescriptionRecreational vessel*

A vessel used solely for the purposes of recreational or sporting activities and not for hire or reward.

Commercial vessel *

Any vessel that is operated in connection with a commercial transaction of any kind; includes both domestic and foreign vessels.

Serious incidents

Any incidents that conform to the definition of a marine incident in the Reference Manual including: capsizing, close quarters, collision, fire, flooding, grounding, loss of stability, onboard incident, other personal injury, person overboard, sinking, structural failure, swamping and person in trouble.

Serious injury incident

An incident where at least one person receives a serious injury, but ere are not fatalities.

Serious injury A person involved in a marine incident suffers any injury requiring admission to hospital.

* For a complete definition please refer to the Reference Manual.


Maritime fatalities and serious injuries

FatalitiesIn 2016-17 there were six fatalities from six marine incidents in Victoria. This compares with nine fatalities from eight marine incidents in 2015-16, ten fatalities from eight incidents in 2014-15 and ten fatalities from ten incidents in 2013-14. Figure 1 shows the number of fatal incidents that have occurred in each of the years shown.

Table 4 below contains data on fatalities that occurred as a result of marine incidents in Victoria. It shows the number of fatalities for each month of each year from 1 July 2013 through to 30 June 2017. The last column shows the total for each year. When comparing this year with the average of the three previous years, fatal incidents have decreased by 37.5 per cent. Four fatalities this year have involved kayaks compared with one from nine in 2015-16, three from ten in 2014-15 and one from ten in 2013-14. The six fatalities this year have involved males, ranging in ages from 36 to 83. Five of the six men failed to notify anyone that they needed assistance; authorities were alerted to the incident by:

vessel and/or deceased found,

family member (the owner was overdue), or

witness sighting.

Table 4: Marine incident fatalities by month from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2017

Year of incident

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Total

2013-14 0 0 1 0 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 1 10

2014-15 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 4 10

2015-16 1 0 1 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 9

2016-17 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6

Further information 17 October 2016, a 62 year old male kayaker was reported missing from Ventnor

Beach on Phillip Island. Victoria Police coordinated a search of the area and the male’s kayak was located on the beach at Red Rock Point which is approximately half a nautical mile north west of Ventnor beach. The man’s body has not been recovered.

5 November 2016, two males departed from Point Roadknight in their kayaks with the intention to paddle to Fisherman’s Beach, Torquay. A 46 year old male became separated from his kayak and requested assistance. Water Police coordinated a search and a short time later the Police Air wing located the male in the water unresponsive. Paramedics attempted to revive the male however they were unsuccessful. The male was wearing a life jacket.

9 November 2016, a 70 year old male was located deceased near his 4.4 m aluminium open type boat off Maggie Shoal in Westernport. The male appears to have fallen overboard and may have been unable to get back on board his vessel. The male was wearing an inflatable lifejacket which had been activated.


20 December 2016, a 36 year old male fell from his kayak while paddling on Lake Eildon. Witnesses lost sight of the male for approximately 20 minutes, however the kayak and PFD were located on shore at Point Tehan with no sign of the male. The man’s body has not been recovered.

1 March 2017, A 83 year old male died when his Kayak capsized off Rye Yacht Club, Port Phillip Bay. The deceased was not wearing a life jacket.

20 April 2017, a 81 year old male was found deceased alongside his semi-submerged 3.1 m open vessel approximately 10 metres from the boat ramp at Lake Eppalock.

Victoria Police and Coast Guard on a search and rescue


Serious injuriesThere were 23 incidents that resulted in serious injury in 2016-17, three more than in 2015-16. Twenty one of the 23 serious injury incidents involved a recreational vessel and two involved a commercial vessel. The recreational vessel types represented include:

- eleven open type vessels, - six personal watercrafts, - two kayaks, - one yacht (keel boat) and - one half cabin.

Table 5 contains data on marine incidents that resulted in serious injury in Victoria. It shows the number of incidents that occurred in each month of each year since 1 July 2013. The last column shows the incident total for each year. Figure 1 shows the number of serious injury incidents that have occurred in each of the years shown. The number of incidents to result in serious injury has increased by 9.5 per cent compared with the average of the three preceding seasons.

Of those persons who were injured, four were females and 21 were male. The twenty five people sustaining serious injuries this season ranged in age from 10 to 80, and the average age of those injured was 37.

Table 5: Marine incident serious injury incidents by month from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2017

Year of incident

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Total

2013-14 1 1 0 0 4 3 4 3 1 0 0 0 172014-15 1 2 3 0 1 4 7 1 6 1 0 0 262015-16 3 0 0 1 1 2 5 3 4 1 0 0 202016-17 1 0 1 3 2 2 11 0 2 0 1 0 23

Further information 3 July 2016, a 49 year old female passenger on a commercial seal and dolphin watch

tour suffered a back injury in the choppy conditions. The vessel operator returned to Rhyll, and the female passenger was conveyed to hospital and underwent surgery.

11 September 2016, Torquay Marine Rescue was providing water safety and filming platform for a TV commercial approximately 1.5 kilometres off Jarosite Break. At approximately 16.30 the vessel capsized ejecting all five persons on board. The skipper (a 69 year old male) sustained a head laceration resulting in him being conveyed to hospital by ambulance. All persons were wearing life jackets.

2 October 2016, a 40 year old male on a sea kayak was injured while clinging to a pylon at Oliver’s Hill jetty. He was able to make his own way to shore but was transported to hospital.

16 October 2016, four males were rescued after their 3.7 m aluminium open type boat capsized around 3 am near Jam Jerrup Point on Westernport. One of the males managed to call 000 on his mobile phone while clinging to the upturned hull. Police Air wing located the four males and a volunteer marine rescue vessel pulled the men from the water and conveyed them to nearby Corinella where the men were taken to


hospital by ambulance suffering from hypothermia. The males were not wearing life jackets.

30 October 2016, two males were paddling surf skis from Torquay to Barwon Heads. One of the males fell off his ski and his companion went to shore to raise alarm. Fortunately a kite boarder in the area noticed the male in distress and provided assistance by dragging the male to shore using his kite. The male was taken to Geelong Hospital in an advanced hypothermic state.

5 November 2016, a 3.6 m vessel operating on Tamboon Inlet with two people on board collided with an unknown object in the river. The vessel capsized and both occupants were ejected. The operator sustained a large gash to his head and the passenger sustained cheek and back injuries. Both were conveyed to Bairnsdale Hospital by ambulance.

9 November 2016, on a tour from Cowes Jetty to seal rocks, a 80 year old female dislocated her hip. It is understood that the woman moved slightly sideways in her seat with the lap belt secure and the force of the vessel travelling over the moderate swell was enough to dislocate her hip.

4 December 2016, a 52 year old male injured his head and back when his 5 m vessel capsized at the entrance to the Barwon River.

27 December 2016, 20 year old male wake boarder injured himself when he fell from his board on Lake Eildon.

3 January 2017, a 5.3 m open vessel collided with navigational marker at Bunga Arm, Gippsland Lakes. Seven persons were on board at the time of the incident however only one 17 year old female required hospitalisation as a result of a head injury.

4 January 2017, a 38 year old male suffered serious injuries after attempting to jump a wave on his PWC near the Queenscliff foreshore.

7 January 2017, a 32 year old male injured himself when he ran aground at the mouth of the Fitzroy River on his PWC. The male was airlifted to hospital with serious neck injuries.

8 January 2017, a 33 year old male wakeboarder was taken to hospital in a very serious condition after he fell from his board while wakeboarding on Lake Eildon.

11 January 2017, a PWC operator and their passenger fell from their PWC when it hit wake on Lake Eildon. The 43 year old male operator received serious injuries to his arm and ribs.

18 January 2017, two PWCs collided while wake jumping near Cowes on Western Port Bay. Both 18 year old male operators received leg injuries.

21 January 2017, a 10 year old boy was injured when he fell from a ski biscuit whilst skiing on Lake Nillachootie.

21 January 2017, a 5.4 m open vessel stalled causing a 14 year old male water skier to fall and injure himself on Lake Charm.

21 January 2017, a male was injured when he fell overboard from a yacht competing in a regatta off Shaving Point, Metung.

26 January 2017, two personal watercraft collided on Lake Nagambie, seriously injuring one 32 year old male.

26 January 2017, a collision between two personal watercraft off the Tyrone foreshore, Rye, Port Phillip Bay resulted in serious injury to a 16 year old female.

12 March 2017 , a 21 year old male was injured while participating in towing activities with a 6.7 m open vessel on Lake Eildon


15 March 2017, a 68 year old male fell on board a 4.3 m vessel while fishing on the Mitchell River

16 May 2017, an open 6 m vessel exploded after refuelling at Mildura Marina, on the Murray River. Of the six people on board, one 10 year old boy was injured.

Figure 1: Number of fatal incidents and serious injury incidents, 2013-14 to 2016-17

Hospitalisation data researchIn early 2017 TSV engaged Monash University Accident Research Centre’s (MUARC) Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit (VISU) to undertake an analysis of the nature, incidence and mechanism of certain transport-related injuries to patients presenting to Victorian hospitals.

The purpose of this study was to gain overall insight and perspective on the health impact, financial and other consequences of transport-related incidents. Research focussed on presentations to hospital emergency departments and admissions to hospital, for patients who identified their injury occurred on a bus, tram, or boat in Victoria (referred to as hospitalisation data).

TSV wanted to supplement occurrence data captured in reporting to gain further insights by analysing hospital admissions from bus, tram and maritime injuries to assess the type of injuries sustained in the community.

Maritime hospitalisation admissions indicated variance between the number of incidents reported in TSVs Marine Safety System (MSS). Hospital admissions related to injuries, attributed to maritime-related activity. This information gap could be attributed to injured individuals who directly submit themselves to hospitals without following mandatory reporting of the incident to Victoria Police. Therefore, do not seek assistance from marine search and rescue agencies which is why this information is not captured in MSS.

The maritime hospitalisation data provided the following key insights: Three-quarters of Maritime transport related injury admissions were male.


o This is consistent with licensing data which tells us that much of licence holders are male (refer to page 27, table 13),

In almost 90% of cases, the body of water on which the incident occurred was not identified. 6% identified injuries were in a river or channel. 2% were identified in the ocean and 1% injured in a lake or dam.

Maritime injury trend analysis revealed, maritime-related injury admissions per 100,000 population increased by 5.3% each year; a significant trend.

The increased injury rate is the considered to be statistically significant when compared with Victorian population figures. However, it is less clear to us how injury rates relate to time that boaters spend on the water (which could be described as exposure to risk).

While the research is useful and valuable, the data contained in the Maritime Hospitalisation report needs to be interpreted with caution. For example, when a person attends a hospital emergency department, the details of their injury are recorded by medical personnel using pre-determined fields, and these fields relate to transport accidents rather than maritime specific accidents, therefore, coding errors can occur. This is illustrated in the finding related to fatalities and the vessels involved in those fatalities.

The MUARC VISU report identified more than half the fatalities occurred over a ten-year (2005-2015) period and involved vessels categorised as ‘other powered watercraft’. This designation includes PWC and hovercraft. MSS data indicates during the same ten-year period, one fatality occurred involving a PWC. While it is possible that a small number of serious injury incidents involving PWC may have resulted in fatality and TSV were not advised, this does not provide a complete explanation for this difference. Therefore, an assumption can be drawn that ‘other powered watercraft’ is being used as a default category selected by medical personnel inputting information, when the vessel is not clearly described by the patient. Further hospitalisation research will need to examine this anomaly to understand the size of the problem and, if required and if possible, seek to correct it.

Turning to types of injuries incurred, around half of maritime-related injury admissions involved a fracture. The body part most commonly injured is the lower extremities, and such injury types suggest the involvement of PWC, based on the part of the body where the injury was sustained.

The analysis of hospital/emergency department presentations highlights the impact of boating related injuries to the individual, families and community are significant. The causal factors differ to those related to boating fatalities (predominantly people unexpectedly enter the water and not able to reboard their vessel, nor call for help).

The data captured in MSS tells us that the highest proportion of boating incidents occur on enclosed waters. As a result TSV plans to increase its efforts to make boaters aware of the key risk factors that can lead to serious injury high speed, collisions with other vessels and navigational hazards (on top of and under the water). Additionally TSV intends to increase its focus on ensuring that masters of recreational vessels better understand their obligations to take reasonable care, particularly in circumstances where they operate a vessel at high speeds, or engage in towed water sports on congested waterways.

The full report can be found at transportsafety.vic.gov.au/regulatory-approach/research


https://transportsafety.vic.gov.au/regulatory-approach/research

Marine incidents - recreationalIn 2016-17, there were 1,258 reported marine incidents involving recreational vessels. This is a 2.8 per cent decrease when compared with the average of the three preceding years.

Figure 2 shows the number of recreational marine incidents that occurred each year from 2013-14 to 2016-17. Of the 1,258 recreational vessel incidents this year, 216 (17.17 per cent) were classified as ‘serious incidents’ and 1,042 (82.83 per cent) were disablements (refer to tables 2 and 3 respectively for the definition of a disablement and serious incident).

The proportion of recreational incidents to result in fatality, serious injury and lost vessel (the three worst possible outcomes of a marine incident) is 3.34 per cent. This compares with 2.9 per cent in 2015-16, 3.1 per cent in 2014-15 and 2.65 per cent in 2013-14.

Figure 2: Recreational marine incidents, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 boating seasons

Recreational incidents by incident typeAll incident types have decreased compared with the average of the three preceding years with the exception of person in trouble, other personal injury and close quarter incidents. Of the person in trouble incidents:

- 53.6 per cent involved human powered vessels (kayaks, canoes, stand up paddle boards (n=22),

- 22 per cent involved mechanical vessels (n = 9), - 24.4 per cent involved kites and windsurfers (n=10),

The leading contributing factors to the person in trouble incidents were: error in judgement, inexperience, wind/sea state and unknown.


Of the other personal injury incidents in table 6, seven were caused by skiing (two wake board, four tube and one ski) and two were caused by operating a vessel (one involved a personal watercraft and one involved a yacht). There have been no close quarter incidents recorded in the previous three years and two incidents recorded this year.

Table 6 shows the number of incidents by year. The first column lists the incident type and the adjacent columns show the number of incidents that occurred in each year. The last row shows the total for each year.

Table 6: Marine incidents involving recreational vessels, 2013-14 to 2016-17

Incident type 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17Disablement of vessel 1012 1085 1093 1042Grounding 89 61 72 69Person in trouble 47 39 31 41Capsizing 37 33 46 37Collision 23 15 15 18Flooding 22 11 17 9Person overboard 16 14 12 7Fire 11 9 5 6Swamping 10 6 3 6Onboard incident 6 3 9 6Other personal Injury 4 4 4 9Structural failure 3 2 2 3Explosion 3 2 2 3Loss or presumed loss of vessel

0 3 0 0

Close quarters 0 0 0 2Sinking 1 0 0 0Loss of stability 0 1 0 0

Total 1284 1288 1311 1258

Figure 3 shows incidents by month and incident type. It illustrates that this season the most number of disablements (n=189) and serious incidents (n=51) occurred in January followed by December (n=35). A closer look at the separate months show that the highest proportion of serious incidents was in August and the lowest proportion of serious incidents was in July.


Figure 3: Serious incidents and disablements by month for the 2016-17 boating season.

Recreational incidents by waterway The majority of recreational marine incidents occurred on enclosed waters (84.74 per cent) followed by coastal inshore waters (8.11 per cent). Table 7 shows the proportion of recreational marine incidents to occur on each waterway type from 2013-14 to 2016-17. The first column lists the waterway type and the adjacent columns show the proportion of incidents to occur in each year.

Table 7 Recreational marine incidents by waterway type from 2013-14 to 2016-17Waterway type 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017Coastal inshore 6.23% 6.37% 7.70% 8.11%Coastal offshore 2.80% 2.17% 1.68% 3.58%Enclosed 86.45% 87.34% 86.80% 84.74%Inland 4.44% 3.88% 3.66% 3.50%

Occurred outside Victorian waters

0.08% 0.23% 0.15% 0.08%

Recreational marine incidents occurred on 44 different waterways this season compared with 47 in 2015-16 and 39 in 2014-15. In 2016-17, 49.44 percent (n=622) occurred on Port Phillip Bay and 19.15 per cent (n=241) occurred on Western Port. Figure 4 shows the top ten waterways for recreational marine incidents in 2016-17. This season 33 waterways had fewer than ten incidents recorded and nineteen of these only had one recreational incident recorded.

Figure 5 on the next page show the 2016-17 recreational marine incidents by incident severity plotted geospatially over a map of Victoria.


Figure 4: Top ten waterways for recreational marine incidents in 2016-17

Police attend incident at Port Phillip Bay


Figure 5: Recreational marine incidents for the 2016-17 season, shown by location and incident severity


Recreational disablementsRecreational disablement incidents have decreased by two per cent compared with the average of the three preceding years. Consistent with previous years, the majority of disablements (97.6 per cent) resulted in no damage to the vessel or property, which is the lowest severity rating. Table 8 shows the number of recreational disablement incidents that occurred during each year, 2013-14 to 2016-17.

Table 8: Recreational disablements, 2013-14 to 2016-17 Year 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Number of recreational disablement incidents

1012 1085 1093 1042

Figure 6 shows the top contributing factors to recreational disablements this year. The leading contributing factor was ‘equipment – machinery’ (40 per cent) (this may include: seized engine, engine overheating, lost steering/rudder, water pump issues). This was followed by equipment – electrical (26.6 per cent) (this may include: flat battery, wiring or spark plug failure), unknown (10.8 per cent), lack of fuel (9.7 per cent) and lack of maintenance (4.13 per cent).

Figure 6: Top contributing factors to disablements, 2016-17

In 2016-17 there were 35 instances of repeat offenders. This is when a vessel registration has been recorded in conjunction with a vessel disablement more than once. Of these there are 33 instances when a vessel has needed assistance twice and two instances were a vessel has been recorded three times. These repeat episodes can be months apart or 24 hours apart.


Recreational disablements by vessel typeFigure 7 shows the proportion of recreational disablements by vessel type for 2016-17. Although half cabin vessels represent just 15 per cent of the total vessels registered in Victoria they represent 42 per cent of all recreational disablements. Over 85 per cent of vessel disablements occur in half cabin, open and cabin cruiser vessel types.

Figure 7: Recreational disablements by vessel type for the current boating season


Marine incidents - commercialThere were 35 reported commercial marine incidents in 2016-17, a 32.26 per cent decrease compared with the average of the three preceding seasons. Twenty four incidents have resulted in no damage, seven incidents have resulted in vessel damage, two incidents have resulted in property damage and two incidents have resulted in serious injury. Figure 8 shows the number of reported marine incidents involving a commercial vessel. Refer to Table 3 for the definition of a commercial vessel.

Figure 8: Marine incidents involving commercial vessels, 2013-14 to 2016-17

Fishing vessel stuck on reef at Port Fairy


Commercial incidents by incident typeOf the 35 commercial vessel incidents, 18 (51.4 per cent) were classified as serious incidents and 17 (48.6 per cent) were disablements. Table 9 contains data on marine incidents involving commercial vessels only. The first column shows the incident type and the adjacent columns show the number of incidents that occurred in each year. The last row shows the total for each year.

The incident types that have been most common this year are disablements (n=17), collisions (n=5) and close quarters (n=4). Three of the four close quarter incidents occurred in Port Phillip Bay and one occurred in Swanson Dock, Yarra River.

Table 9: Marine incidents involving commercial vessels 2013-14 to 2016-17

Incident type 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17Disablement of vessel 18 20 17 17Collision 7 9 8 5Grounding 9 8 5 3Close quarters 2 8 8 4Onboard incident 2 9 6 3Person overboard 1 4 1 2Capsizing 1 1 0 0Fire 1 0 1 0Structural failure 1 1 0 0Flooding 0 1 1 0Swamping 0 0 1 1Person in trouble 1 0 0 0Other personal injury 1 0 0 0Explosion 0 1 0 0Loss of stability 1 0 0 0Total 45 62 48 35

Commercial incidents by vessel typeClass 1 Passenger Vessels are the most common vessel type involved in commercial vessel incidents (n = 16). Class 1 passenger vessels include Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay passenger ferries, paddle steamers, commercial fishing charters, and tour vessels. Half of these incidents (n=8) involved vessels greater than 12 m, four involved vessels 8–12 m and two involved vessels 4.8–8 m (length was unknown for two vessels). Five of the incidents involved a passenger on board the vessel (person overboard or onboard incident), two of which were serious injury incidents.

Of the nine incidents involving Class 4 Hire and Drive Vessels, two incidents were collisions and seven incidents were disablements. Six resulted in no damage and three resulted in vessel damage.

Of the 35 commercial incidents four incidents involved two commercial vessels (close quarters or collision incidents) and two incidents involved a commercial vessel and recreational vessel (close quarters or collision).


Commercial incidents by waterway The majority of commercial marine incidents occurred on enclosed waters (80 per cent) followed by coastal inshore waters (11.43 per cent). Table 10 shows the proportion of commercial marine incidents to occur on each waterway type from 2013-14 to 2016-17. The first column lists the waterway type and the adjacent columns show the proportion of incidents to occur in each year.

Table 10 Commercial marine incidents by waterway type from 2013-14 to 2016-17

Waterway type 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017Coastal inshore 4.44% 8.06% 10.42% 11.43%Coastal offshore 6.67% 3.23% 10.42% 2.86%Enclosed 80.00% 80.65% 75.00% 80.00%Inland 6.67% 8.06% 4.17% 5.71%

Occurred outside Victorian waters

2.22% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Commercial marine incidents occurred on 13 different waterways this year compared with 11 in 2015-16 and 14 in 2014-15. In 2016-17, 40 per cent (n=14) occurred on Port Phillip Bay and 11.43 per cent occurred on Lake Victoria. In 2016-17 seven waterways had only one incident recorded. Figure 9 shows the top ten waterways for commercial marine incidents in 2016-17.

Figure 10 on the next page shows the 2016-17 commercial marine incidents by incident severity plotted geospatially over a map of Victoria.

Figure 9: Top ten waterways for commercial marine incidents in 2016-17


Figure 10: Commercial marine incidents for the 2016-17 season, shown by location and incident severity


Boating Behaviour Study Part 2In 2017, TSV engaged Instinct and Reason to undertake research to help us better understand boater behaviour, risk awareness and safety attitudes, with the intention of using findings from this research to further inform our regulatory activities, particularly education. The study focuses on five separate boater types:– inland waterway fishers, – inland waterway towed water sports, – enclosed and the coastal inshore fishers, – PWC operators and – kayakers. These specific profiles were selected because of their representation in our incident statistics.

This research has told us that most boaters feel they are well aware of the boating rules that apply to their activity. They generally feel that their activity is low risk and they are well prepared (in terms of knowledge) to undertake it safely. They are generally positive about the contribution that boating training can make to help create competent boaters, and are open to the idea of improving their skills and knowledge.

However, our research also told us that some boaters can be over confident about the extent to which they are prepared to deal with any unexpected issues that may arise when they are boating. They may also be unaware of the unforgiving nature of the marine environment and often underestimate the risks involved in their boating activity, particularly when they are boating in more challenging weather.

At the time of compiling this report, TSV is considering the Boating Behaviour study report in detail, including how it intends to address the issues raised. The full report will be made available on the TSV website.

Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad demonstrate a rescue of stranded kayakers


Victorian Marine Licence snapshotThe marine licence data is taken on the last day of the reporting month. The number of people with a marine licence as of 30 June 2017 was 407,631 (see Table 11). The following tables show marine licences by licence status and type, licence holders by age group and gender.

Table 11: Number of marine licences by licence status as of 30 June 2017

Licence status Number of licences

Current licence 407,631Expired licence 123,203

As at 30 June 2017, 244,118 people had a licence to operate a PWC in Victoria. This figure includes 6,071 people under 16 years of age. Table 12 shows the proportion of marine licences with a PWC endorsement as at 30 June 2017.

Table 12: Number of marine licences with a PWC endorsement as of 30 June 2017

Licence type Percentage of licences

PWC endorsement 57%None 43%

Males make up the majority of licence holders (79.7 per cent) see table 13 below. Table 14 shows a breakdown of licences by age group.

Table 13: Percentage of marine licences held by gender as of 30 June 2017

Gender Percentage of licences

Female 20.3%Male 79.7%

Figure 11: Percentage of marine licences held by age group as at 30 June 2017


Recreational registrations snapshotThere were 193,346 recreational vessels registered as at 30 June 2017. It should be noted that this figure does not capture passive (human powered) vessels, including but not limited to: rafts, stand-up paddle boards, kayaks and canoes. It is unknown exactly how many passive vessels are in Victoria, however estimates suggest there are at least 350,000 paddle craft being used each year. Table 14 and Figure 12 show a breakdown of registered vessels by vessel type. PWC registrations have experienced the most growth of the recreational vessel categories, doubling in the period 2009 to 2017. Table 15 shows the number of vessels registered by vessel length range. Figure 12 shows by local government area where vessels are registered across Victoria (excluding PWC). Figure 13 shows by local government area where PWC are registered.

Table 14 and Figure 12: Registered recreational vessels by type as at 30 June 2017

Vessel type Number of vessels

Open 130,776Half cabin 28,804Personal watercraft 21,095Cabin cruiser 5,898Yacht (keel boat) 2,782Trailer sailer 2,191Hovercraft 868Houseboat 718Canoe 214

Table 15: Number of registered recreational vessels by length as at 30 June 2017

Vessel length range Number of vessels

0 - 4.8 m 121,8014.8 – 8 m 65,6978 – 12 m 3,994Greater than 12 m 1,854


Figure 12: Victorian recreational vessel registrations (excluding PWC) held as at 18 July 2017


Figure 13: Victorian recreational vessel registrations held for PWC, as at 18 July 2017


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